Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp.’s policy changes for
its Internet products including Hotmail and Bing are being
formally examined by European data protection regulators for
potential privacy issues.

Updates to Microsoft’s services agreement, which took
effect Oct. 19, are being formally reviewed, EU privacy
regulators wrote to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve
Ballmer and the head of Microsoft Luxembourg. Luxembourg’s and
France’s data protection commissions are leading the
examination, according to the Dec. 17 letter, obtained by
Bloomberg News.

“Given the wide range of services you offer, and
popularity of these services, changes in your Services Agreement
and the linked Privacy Policy may affect many individuals in
most or all of the EU member states,” wrote Jacob Kohnstamm,
who leads the association of EU data protection commissioners.
They “decided to check the possible consequences for the
protection of the personal data of these individuals in a
coordinated procedure.”

The review will verify whether the changes could entail new
risks for users’ privacy. The examination is also checking
whether Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft’s privacy policy
meets European standards on notifying users and allowing them a
choice of services, Gerard Lommel, head of the Luxembourg
privacy regulator, said in an interview in October.

Privacy Policy

“In updating the Microsoft Services Agreement we did not
change our privacy policy,” said Robin Koch, a spokesman for
Microsoft in Brussels. “We are confident they will find
Microsoft’s long-standing commitment to privacy has not
changed.”

The 27 EU data protection regulators, who work together in
the so-called Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, urged
Google Inc. to address concerns about its privacy policy in
October following a review of changes implemented this year.

Data protection is currently policed by separate regulators
across the EU. As part of an overhaul of the union’s 17-year-old
rules on the issue, its executive body wants to simplify the
system so companies deal with only one regulator in the region.